Nguyen Huu Cuong (L) shown in a file photo taken in February 2013. Cuong has been rescued one day after a military jet carrying him and another officer crashed into the sea June 14, 2016. Photo: Mai Thanh Hai/Thanh Nien

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Both pilots aboard a Vietnamese Air Force Sukhoi fighter jet that crashed into the sea Tuesday managed to eject safely, but only one has been rescued so far.

The Nghe An Province Border Guard told Thanh Nien that Nguyen Huu Cuong was found by fishermen with a life vest and in stable condition at 5 a.m. Wednesday.

The fishing boat is on its way back to shore with him.

Cuong told the Ministry of Defense by phone from the boat that he and Colonel Tran Quang Khai managed to jump and parachuted into the sea around four kilometers from each other. He could see Khai’s parachute before they drifted apart, he said.

Pham Van Ty, deputy head of the ministry's rescue department, said Cuong was found 60 nautical miles off the coast of Thanh Hoa Province.